Fair Grove girls jumped out to a 20-11 first-quarter lead and went on to defeat Diamond 62-52 in the Class 3 state quarterfinals Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Carthage High School. The Lady Eagles were still in front by seven at the half and outscored Diamond 16-9 in the third quarter to take a 46-32 lead. more

Fair Grove and Mansfield had similar records going into the Class 3 state quarterfinals game Saturday at the University of Central Missouri at Warrensburg. However, way back in the fourth game of the season Fair Grove slaughtered the Lady Lions 66-29. Obviously the Lady Lions didn’t want that to happen again, so they initiated a “slow-down” game to take the Lady Eagles out of their usual 100-miles-per-hour approach. more

Buffalo girls’ basketball season ended with a loss to Willow Springs 46-39 last week in the opening round of the Class 4, District 11 Tournament at Mountain Grove. more

Macks Creek girls suffered a heartbreaking 55-54 loss to Leeton in the Class 1 state quarterfinals Saturday at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. The Lady Pirates had two quick baskets to move in front by four points early in the fourth quarter, but Leeton shot the lights out in the fourth quarter and ultimately prevailed by one point. more

The Skyline girls basketball team has advanced to the final four in the Class 3 State Tournament after defeating South Shelby High School 57-48 on Saturday, March 4, at Moberly Area Community College, Moberly. The Lady Tigers, 23-6, will play Fair Grove, 26-4, at 8 p.m. Friday, March 10, at Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly JQH Arena) in Springfield in the semifinals match. more

All coaches like for their teams to get off to a good start, and the Skyline girls seemed to have mastered this approach recently. They have consistently built double-digit leads in the opening quarter against Sparta in the last regular-season game, Warsaw and Stover in district and now Montgomery County in sectionals Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Jefferson City High School. more

Macks Creek boys are seeded third in the Class 1, District 6 basketball tournament Feb. 20-24 at Blair Oaks High School in Wardsville. The Pirates will play sixth-seeded Tuscumbia in the opening round on Monday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. more

Skyline boys are seeded fifth in the Class 3, District 8 basketball tournament Feb. 20-24 in the Stover Dome at Stover. The Tigers get the tourney started with an opening game against fourth-seeded Windsor on Monday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m., and the winner will play top-seeded Cole Camp in the semifinals Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. more

Macks Creek girls are the top-seeded team in the Class 1, District 5 basketball tournament Feb. 21-25 at Wheatland. The Lady Eagles have a bye in the opening round, and will play in the semifinals Thursday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. against the winner of fourth-seeded Fair Play and fifth-seeded Humansville, which play each other Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. more

Fair Grove’s girls basketball team defeated three state-ranked teams in the past 10 days, edging El Dorado Springs 61-58 and Ava 66-49 on the road, and St. James at home 66-41 on Saturday. El Dorado Springs was ranked number one in Class 3, Ava was sixth in Class 4 and St. James was second in Class 4 as of Feb. 8. more

It’s always exciting when Fair Grove plays archival Strafford in any sport. But the tension will be even higher Friday when the Fair Grove boys host Strafford in a game that will determine the Mid-Lakes Conference championship. At this writing Fair Grove is 3-0 in conference play with Strafford being the Eagles’ only league contest left. In contrast, Strafford is 2-0, but was scheduled to play at Forsyth last night (Tuesday), not an easy task. A Strafford loss to Forsyth will clinch at least a tie for Fair Grove. more

Skyline girls defeated Strafford 60-55 Monday night and in the process won the Mid-Lakes Conference championship with a 4-0 record. With the win, the Lady Tigers improved their overall record to 18-6. more